Welcome! This is a forum for vegans! Non-vegans: please search the now archived Going Vegan area if you have questions about going vegan.
Please register for full access. Go to Settings>Permission Groups to see all subforums.

I tried it out with my regular banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, and they actually didn't take any longer to cook - allthough you would think they would, so I am not sure that goes for all recipes.

I did read through the reviews on amazon, and they seemed very favorable - Yea! i chose to support my local feminist book store instead, and now it is taking 2 weeks to come in. Can't wait to start baking!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Aims

I've made the tirimasu and chai latte ones so far. Yummm... by some miracle I found some green tea powder for a decent price, so will give those a go this weekend

Tiramasu looks great! I saw the pic of the green tea ones, but I am not exactly sure where to get green tea powder (unless I can grind up green tea somehow to make it), so I don't think I will be making those.

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Wildflower

Tiramasu looks great! I saw the pic of the green tea ones, but I am not exactly sure where to get green tea powder (unless I can grind up green tea somehow to make it), so I don't think I will be making those.

Yeah, grinding up grean tea crossed my mind too! But I'm not sure it'll work.
I've seen people discussing places to get green tea powder online, and it sounds kinda pricey I still don't know if my cheap miracle-find stuff will be any good, but there's only one way to find out...

Hehe.. you could always make the vanilla cupcakes, throw in a bit of green food colouring and just pretend ?

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Maybe you could sneak some green tea solution in there somewhere? Not as strong, but better than nothing. I've just ordered this book plus Vegan with a Vengeance, so now I just have to wait *drums fingers impatiently*

I tried it out with my regular banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, and they actually didn't take any longer to cook - allthough you would think they would, so I am not sure that goes for all recipes.

I did read through the reviews on amazon, and they seemed very favorable - Yea! i chose to support my local feminist book store instead, and now it is taking 2 weeks to come in. Can't wait to start baking!

Wildflower - Belated thanks for the Kitchen Fantasy links. Might come in useful if I can't find anything similar over here. I found some individual deep muffin moulds that you can purchase from a UK-based store called de Cuisine, which may be of interest:

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Oops! I really should pay more attention. Just realised that you're based in the US, so those links to de Cuisine will probably not be of any interest to you whatsoever. Sorry about that. Then again, there might be some folks in the UK or elsewhere who might benefit from the info.

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

That's Okay Oliver Oil. I am in the US, but I am interested in all cooking sites - LOL, even ones that don't ship here! Those flower muffin tins look really cool, i wonder if the shape holds for all recipes, or if you have to use a more plain recipe...

I finally got my cookbook last week, and last Saturday I made the Sexy Lowfat Vanilla cupcakes topped with a layer of raspberry jam, then stripes of confectioner's glaze, then fresh raspberries. They were really awesome! I plan to make them again today. The cake was very different textured then any cake i have had before - very soft (they had cornstartch in the recipe which may be why.) Very awesome!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Anyone?? I can't really see much info for Trex, but Flora White says it's non-hydrogenated, low in trans fats and saturates, and vegan. However how low is low for those trans fats and saturates, and how much damage does it do to eat??

It's weird because I used to eat stuff with all that in all the time, pre-vegan and even until a few months ago, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to use shortening in an icing mix.

I think picturing what it looks like and having to actually come into contact with it put me off. Does that make sense? Like if I just bought a cake in a store and it was yummy I wouldn't give a second thought to what hyrdogenated/trans/saturated fats were in it. But if I have to make it myself... I suppose then I'm forced to face up to what's in it!! I used to have that problem making scrambled eggs - I thought they were nice to eat but my hubby used to make them in the microwave and I couldn't bear to be anywhere near. Strange! I can definately be near him him when he makes scrambled tofu nowdays

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Jamie, just use it. Our diet is free of dietary cholesterol and low in saturated fats. If you aren't getting trans fat from any other source, I honestly don't think some trans fat in the icing will do too much damage. It will just be a treat thing, not a daily indulgence, right?

I have also used regular vegan margarine for icing (not for these cupcakes but I think all icing recipes are virtually the same). They came out really nice, and creamy.

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Palm fat! Is that all the Palm Oil Shortening is then? Fair enough! well if someone can tell me where to get non-hydrogenated palm fat in the UK I'd love to know! I've just tried a quick google search but it's coming up with ingredients listings and creepy looking pharmaceutical/food websites..!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Jamie - Holland and Barratt sell tubs of palm fat (albeit for a huge amount of money - something like a tenner for a tub!). I can only assume it's non-hydrogenated since palm fat is naturally solid at room temp (and hydrogenation was originally to replace saturated fats)

I've been able to buy blocks of organic palm fat for &#163;3 or something from health food shops in the past. You might be able to get a shop to order it in for you, or get some off the web...

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Ummm. Actually, I'm not sure. Maybe it was coconut oil I saw. All you really need is something that's solid at room temp, right? and non-hydrogenated? - the only solution I can think of to that is palm fat, which is naturally saturated, so won't be great for you either but at least is a bit more natural than hydrogenated, if you're trying to avoid that. I personally think a little of what you fancy does you good, so I don't specifically avoid hydrogenated fats

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Make sure you buy the Palm Oil from a good company that isn't destroying the rainforests for their oil. SPectrum only buys sustainable palm oil. http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=269
Maybe they sell it somewhere in the uk. You could contact them on their website.
I personally avoid hydogenated oil at all costs. Our cells are already fighting so much pollution that is unavoidable and out of our personal control. I don't want to damage my cells in the only area(eating) where I do have control. Hydrogenated oils form cell membranes which affect the function of the cells.

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

I think I read somewhere that it boils down to trans fats - it's thought that it's better to have saturated fats than trans fats (which I understand is the problem with hydrogenated fat). Especially natural plant-based saturates aren't as bad for your body as horrible animal ones.

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

I have kind of an obsessive problem with collecting vegan cookbooks, so I have way too many. This book as quickly risen to the top of the list! I really love baking and there is something so fun about cupcakes.

The recipes are easy to follow and easy to modify if desired. I made the Crimson Velveteen recipe and thing that the cocoa power should either be reduced by half or entirely left out. I also made the Hazelnut recipe, but I didn't have hazelnuts so I used almonds and there were fantastic. I really can't say one bad thing about the delicious Basic Chocolate and the Chai recipes....yum! I don't know if they will take over the world, but they have certainly taken over my kitchen!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

trans fat=hydrogenated fat, but Palm is not hydrogenated. It IS however saturated. There are some studies that show that a small amount of saturated fats (5-10&#37 Are in fact healthy for us, as long as they don't come from hydrogenated or animal sources....

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

My mother bought me this book for my birthday, and I would highly recommend it to anyone! All the batches I have made thus far have turned out perfectly. The cupcakes are moist, delicious, and flavourful. I would advise that unless you REALLY eat a lot of frosting on your cupcakes, halve the recipes for the buttercream frosting. I did a lot of fancy piping but I still always wound up with way too much frosting left over. Also, if you are looking for healthy cupcakes, this is not the book for you. There are a few delicious-looking 'healthy' recipes (sexy low-fat vanilla, agave nectar, etc.), but the majority probably aren't so good for you. Overall, I think this is a truly lovely book. It would make a super holiday present!!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Yay! I'm meeting my boyfriend's mother for the first time when we go to visit in a couple weeks, and she asked if I would tell her a couple things I would like for Christmas, and I asked for this book and an immersion blender. I'm pretty sure she's already going to think I'm nuts just for being vegan...now she's going to think I'm obsessed with food...which is pretty accurate

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Made my first recipe from the book today!

I made the chocolate-cherry ones, with the basic chocolate cupcakes, which were easy enough to make, although slighty plain on their own & the recipes made too much (closer to 15 cupcakes each 3/4 full). I tried to make up half the recipe for the buttercream frosting (I used the yellow Pure marg & flora white for shortening), but forgot to halve the amount of vanilla extract! And I cheated with the cherry sauce and used canned cherry pie filling! I got to use my new icing bag set to do the icing.

But they turned out lovely! Quite rich, but luckily the over-vanilla buttercream worked fine in that.

I'll have to take a picture of them! I'm glad they worked out so well!

Re: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

wish me luck - I'm on a mission today and tommorrow, to get three different batches made!!

I'm making the basic vanilla, which will just have a little buttercream icing and a chocolate lentil (a smartie to anyone else! ) decoration - those are for anyone not so adventurous,

and some of the coconut & lime ones,

and the chocolate cherry ones (it's like a tallcake?), which I have actually made before and I hope they are just as good.

It's for our going away party tommorrow. I hope that a) it all goes OK and b) people actually eat them!!

I'm starting out with the basic cakes, as you do!, and then I suppose make the icing if I have time tonight, and do the plain ones tonight and the fancy ones tommorrow morning, ready for just after lunch when I have to take them over. I have no idea how I will transport them all! But I will take photos to show how they turn out!